Declining demand, rising fuel costs, and losses on fuel hedging contracts lie behind a record loss of 15.3 billion yuan (US$ 2.2 billion) posted by China Eastern Airlines (HKG:0670) for 2008.

China Eastern posts 15.3 bln yuan net loss for 2008 [CFP]

The 15.3 billion yuan loss compares with a 2007 net profit of 379 million yuan. 2008 revenue was 41.07 billion yuan, down from 42.53 billion yuan in 2007.

The airline said 2008 fuel costs rose 22.3 percent to 18.5 billion yuan and operating costs as a whole increased by 32.5 percent to 56.8 billion yuan.

The airline's 2008 loss includes 6.2 billion yuan on fuel hedging contracts that went bad when oil prices plunged in the second half of 2008.

For more details, please read the full Chinese coverage at:

http://www.china-cbn.com/s/n/000004/20090416/000000112591.shtml

(China.org.cn by Ren Zhongxi, April 16, 2009 )